Three In Crime Family Headed To Prison

Would-be Successor To Mob Boss John Gotti Now Out Of The Running

Instead of assuming the throne of the Gambino organized crime family, the man hand-picked to succeed John Gotti gave his family and friends the thumbs-up Friday and was led to federal prison.

Would-be boss Nicholas ``Little Nick'' Corozzo was sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison and fined $12,500 in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale after admitting he headed a South Florida crew that ran a loansharking operation out of a Deerfield Beach check-cashing store.

And Corozzo, 57, is still facing an even stiffer 10-year sentence later this year. Under a non-binding plea deal he cut with prosecutors in Brooklyn, he pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to 16 counts, including racketeering, loansharking, extortion, gambling, selling stolen goods and tax fraud.

Prosecutors say Corozzo, also known as ``the Little Guy,'' was expected to take over the Gambino family, but his guilty pleas and the concurrent Florida and New York sentences have taken him out of the running.

Prosecutors said Corozzo was a soldier in the Gambino family from the mid-1970s until 1992, when he was promoted to capo, or captain, of the Canarsie crew. He was part of a three-man committee of capos formed in 1994 to help John ``Junior'' Gotti run the crime family while his father was in prison, serving a life sentence for murder and racketeering.

Corozzo and associate Ralph Davino Jr. were arrested in December 1996 while swimming off Key Biscayne. Federal and New York authorities said Corozzo had just weeks earlier been designated to succeed Gotti.

Corozzo reportedly was chosen by Gotti after other Mafia families had complained that Gotti could no longer effectively run the organization from prison.

Corozzo's right-hand man, Leonard DiMaria, 56, was sentenced to five years, four months in prison Friday for racketeering, loansharking and dealing in stolen property by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Norman S. Roettger.

DiMaria also pleaded guilty in November to 15 charges in Brooklyn, including racketeering, extortion and loansharking. And like Corozzo, DiMaria will be sentenced to 10 years in prison that will run concurrently to the Florida convictions under an identical plea deal.

Corozzo, DiMaria and Louis ``Brother'' Scida, a reputed Gambino soldier, also agreed to surrender $1.5 million earned from criminal activity to the government, said Brooklyn federal prosecutor Sung-Hee Suh.

A $500,000 cash payment is due before sentencing, which will be set at a later date after Corozzo and DiMaria are processed by the Bureau of Prisons on the Florida convictions.

Davino, the Corozzo associate and Bay of Pigs veteran also arrested while swimming on Key Biscayne, was the third crime family member sentenced on Friday in Fort Lauderdale.

Davino's attorney, Joseph Mure, argued for a lighter sentence, saying Davino has a lucrative day job waiting for him upon release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin March countered that Davino, who is a union heavy equipment operator by day, was going to prison for illegal extracurricular activities.

``He's been a bookmaker most of his adult life,'' March said, arguing for a prison term at the high end of the sentencing guidelines.

But Senior U.S. District Judge Norman Roettger was unmoved and sentenced Davino to the bottom of the range: five years, three months.

``I don't get too bent out of shape by gambling, especially with the Super Bowl coming up,'' Roettger said. ``It's not something that disturbs me.''